Chris Macrae, 25-Feb-04 @ 15:31PM

12 year olds: pictures of the gravitational sun of brand, community & transparent network identities

Does anyone have a simpler language thatn this one for 12 year olds to start to ask how identities gravitate our freedoms to work and learn; the communal relationship wew sustain; the $ and trust we earn
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/download/3324/call10.gif

Some of tghe open space alumni are intent on taking some common language of mediating identities to schools in 80 countries, and perhaps youth movements would like to join in. This picture isnt intended to reinvent the wheel -if anyone has a simpler starting sun to gravitate conversation and training atround please tell us.

We're also look for serious spaces to take the meanings of the sunshine to human professions - see eg

here live to the end of February & then landmarked for posterity ( 1 minute registration needed)http://groupjazz.gjhost.com/gj/swebsock/0006749/0521082/GJ14/main/viewitem.cml?315+50+380+1+2+x+1+ilist2#here

or here as long as I last at KB http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=123353&d=1&h=417&f=56&dateformat=%o%20%B%20%Y

Chris Macrae, 24-Feb-04 @ 16:44PM

human manifesto governing world's 100 largest networks -part 2

1.1 PRINCIPLE of Identifying & Valuing the networks of organisations with greatest human purpose.
We want the 100 biggest organisational networks in the world to be those identified with the most trustworthy and valuable human purposes. We want to know which is which. We want governance of all of these 100 largest organisational networks in ways that transparently sustain the gravity of their communally agreed leadership purpose over time.

2.1 PRINCIPLE of Sustainability & Responsibility
We don't want any trustworthy group of people to lose by any policies, interventions or campaigns that use such terms as Sustainability, Responsibility or
Reconciliation. Sustainability should be defined as revolving round the open spaces and processes needed so that all who trust their greatest resources (including people lifetimes) to a situation win-win provided they commune transparently and take responsibility for energising the leadership of what they know most about in emotionally literate and open ways. (People known to be working in this area include the Sustainability alumni of Imperial College London, the Open Space alumni of Harrison Owen, the Ethical NGO, Youth and Reconciliation networks of Paul Komesaroff)

3.1 PRINCIPLE of Conflict Resolution Governance
No organisational network control its unique purpose's greatest compound risks unless it audits emerging conflicts openly and with the same frequencies that it reports financial numbers, with the leadership tasks of ensuring all conflicts are resolved as both the most social and economic time- before they compound distrust and risks across the network

3.2 PRINCIPLE of Protecting the Integrity of the Weakest omplexity mathematics as a tool used in 3.1 enables us to map back which organisational networks are not governing the strategic intent of 3.1 in a true way. In networks that are not relentlessly conflict resolving, we know how to spot such rotting systems because it is always the weakest, or least knowledgeable of those being served or those with the greatest long-term stake who are discriminated against. Confirming evidence is seen wherever a leader makes a
conflict decision regarding a value exchange -defined as permiting (consciously or subconsciously) one side to lose out on trust (ie breaking one of the purpose's promises) so that the other side has a short-term win

Chris Macrae, 24-Feb-04 @ 16:42PM

Inviting youth to draft manifesto for humanity of world's largest 100 networks- part 1

With others, I have being inquiring about the global and local impacts of networking, with a particular lens on what deep human values we can design in, since my first co-authored book in 1984 (mainly edited by my father who deputy edited The Economist when it believed more in raising questions than having
answers).

In this 20 year-old book which was a future history up to 2024, the next urgent task on our timeline was written up in chpater 6 in these words: 2005 The Year of Transformation By 2005 the gap in income and expectations between the rich and poor nations was recognised to be man's most dangerous problem. Internet linked television
channels in sixty-eight countries invited their viewers to participate in a
computerised conference about it, in the form of a series of weekly programmes.
Recommendations tapped in by viewers were tried out on a computer model of the world economy. If recommendations were shown by the model to be likely to make the world economic situation worse, they were to be discarded. If recommendations were reported by the model to make the economic situation in poor
countries better, they were retained for 'ongoing computer analysis' in the next
programme

Today, I think we need a better mode of debate than 68 national television networks, and believe youth should be at the centre of opening the space. In parallel, I do think we could write up a dream constitution of how the biggest organisational networks in the world need to be governed, because unless these huge powers transparently play their partin wholly open ways, I dont see how
all the individual human love in the world can catch up with the harm that conflict compounding powers can pass on usually with those with weakest access of represenation in their games getting the worst of everything.

My idea is to start circulating a manifesto of open rules we'd like the world's largest networks to respect. Doubtless these will need lots of editing in different communities. I'd like to pliot some of these rules on you now. If anyone sees a rule they want to correspond on I'm at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk or we
have our first live confernce board conversation going on in February at
http://groupjazz.com/chautauqua/ (one minute's registration needed)

As well as the rules, we are looking for methodologies that organise them. But to ensure openness we require anyone who says they have a method to benchmark it with anyone else proposing a method connecting the same rule! Chris Macrae

Chris Macrae, 23-Feb-04 @ 13:33PM

voices of Ethiopia

Our project, Young Lives, which is a longitudinal 15-year study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam places a strong emphasis on child/youth participation. We are keen that the voices of young people should be heard as widely as possible on the inter-linked issues of poverty, empowerment, wellbeing and citizenship. For this reason the Young Lives Ethiopia team facilitated a discussion with Ethiopian teenagers a few days ago on the Week 2 agenda issues of this e-conference. The discussion was thought-provoking and broad-ranging, and we thought it would be of interest to the e-conference participants to read some of its highlights, which I include below.

For more information about Young Lives, please visit www.younglives.org.uk

We would very much welcome any feedback or further discussion on the points raised below.

Please note that (M/F) after a name denotes 'male/female'.

I think the key challenges that poverty presents to the youth is that they (the youngsters) won't have faith in their country; they won't be educated and work for their country because they may think ‘what's the use in being educated?’ The other thing is that the youngsters will have to work in order to live, but the parents are supposed to do that - when that's not enough, the youth will have to work and if this happens the youth won't have time to be educated. And this will cause damage mentally and physically to the youth. HN (F), Age 15

I think Ethiopia a poor country has affected young people first of all education. When I say education I mean there are not enough materials and books. Secondly, when we finish high school and go to universities it is not by our choices that we go to the department, we don't study what we want. And a lot of students go to countryside to go to universities and they may not feel good. They may be sick, they may not adapt to the conditions and everything in the countryside, and there are also not enough dormitories. So, they may be disturbed by other students - for example, 14 people should not share one room. EH (F), Age 13 There is a difference between private and government sectors. Private sectors have a sense of ownership, so they will serve properly and give additional services too. In Government, this is not applicable - everyone is running for his own benefit. BT(F), Age 14

I see only a slight difference between private and government sectors. It is difficult to say that both are giving an appropriate service. First, let me start from government - they have conducted a meeting saying that it is for the benefit of people. But we can't see any difference till now. So, what is the solution for this? From the private sector point of view, they are preparing music concerts etcetera, frequently by saying that it is for the benefit of drought-affected people. But we didn't see these people benefiting. In my opinion they both are the same. EL (M), Age 13

Chris Macrae, 23-Feb-04 @ 01:36AM

from Indonesia

S:Mother Theresa from Calcutta is a real example for all of us on how she sees poverty. She was a woman totally in love with the poor (although I know she also loves the rich). Mother Teresa impressed the world by her dedication to the poorest of the poor. This was possible for a frail woman to go out into the streets of Calcutta and the world to cure the sores of lepers and caress the "pariahs" of modern societies. She taught us how to love the poor, to love our unfortunate neighbor.

On one occasion, in giving her public recognition, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said these words more or less: "In this world of today, so frenetic, it is easy to forget the most essential things. Mother Teresa teaches us that love is what is most essential. At the same time, her life is full of examples of love for others, not just for the poor, but also for all persons whom she met. In reality, Mother Teresa leaves us the message to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.

She left us a very important lesson, that is "never use the poor as an object of our generosity, but a subject that will make them participate with us in exploring the Culture of Love." Many of poverty eradication strategies laid out buy various international organizations tend to focus on efforts where the poor only become the "object" of the activity. And we know by the fact, that these oftentimes are not successful.I am impressed with what Mr. Mohammad Yunus has been doing with his famous "Grameen Bank" successfully, despite many critics from the traditional banks that it is impossible to lend money to the poor without guarantee. The secret of Mr. Yunus' success is "trust"; you have to trust the poor that they can help themselves eventually, but you should teach them first some good lessons on how to respect that trust.

When Mother Theresa spoke to the people she met, she said that this attitude of love, of solidarity, should not just be lived with the poor: one must begin by loving the members of one's family, who are in need of a word of encouragement. One must begin by loving someone one knows who might be in need of a letter, one must begin to love by giving a smile to the needy. Mother not only shared physical and material poverty with the poor, she felt the thirst, the abandonment that people experience. In fact, the greatest poverty is not to be loved, to be rejected.

EMBRACE POVERTY......LOVE THE POORS, LEARN FROM THEM AS THEY ARE THE BEST TEACHERS OF LOVE, OF SOLIDARITY......ENLIGHTEN THE RICHES TO LIVE THE SPIRIT OF DETACHMENT FROM MATERIAL WEALTH.......

These are actually the essence of the challenges that poverty present. The youth, all of us, should be called to write these on their heart. Only then, we will understand what the meaning of poverty is, and how the Youth could participate more in better ways to love and to help the Poors all throughout their life.

Chris Macrae, 21-Feb-04 @ 18:55PM

TL shared a brilliant missive with me, extract here

if you wnat me to pobox between you and Ted, tell me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

if the future is to be determined purely by rational intellectual ideas, as in 'artificial life' simulations, and the 'self-organizational' wisdom of nature is no longer going to figure in the precipitation of the future, the notion of 'accommodation' on the part of a collective that is in phase-couping with the assertive behaviours of the constituents will no longer be 'needed'. however, it is the sustaining of this accommodative-assertive phase-coupling that is the source of 'resilience' in a collective-constituent-codynamic.

in the one-sided intellectually planned assertive roll-out of the future, the role of 'resilience' as in self-organizing systems is replaced by fault-intolerance and fail-safe engineering. this zero-tolerance, zero-fault orientation is the 'purificationist' approach to organization which is making itself increasingly manifest in the modern world.

in fact, in speaking of projections of the future, one could say that we are at the crux of an historic struggle between the rising forces of a purificationist artificial life approach to community and the rejuvenation of the resilient self-organizational approach to community.

rationality, science and technology, .. the industrial revolution have imbued in us a faith in our capacity to 'engineer' community life and blinded us to the implicit over-riding contribution of self-organization which is the fundamental way of nature and which will clearly 'win out' in the long run since our engineering efforts nest inclusionally within the innately self-organizational operatives of nature.

the formalized incarnation of the feudal system in the majority-rule democratic nation-state whose centralized control based leadership tends to get in bed with the military-industrial complex, substantially reduces our possibility for a rejuvenation of self-organization (which is dependent upon local empowerment). youth coming into the system are finding it hard to resist co-optation by the 'artificial life' ethic of the workplace they are joining, but have little alternative, short of starvation and suffocation, due to the conditional privilege of freedom granted by the property-monopoly-protecting nation-state.

what a pathetic state we have somehow let ourselves get into. no wonder the kids are twisting off.

it will take us more than talk to rejuvenate the wisdom of self-organization to protect our great grandchildren from outwelling into a one-sided fault-intolerance-based artificial life society.

Chris Macrae, 20-Feb-04 @ 18:32PM

an ebay of NGO's

MV: As I see it programs, wich can help people to learn somthing about NGO`s, the private sector or buisness are a very interessting idea. I `m sure that such programms are allready existing, but there are not enough of them and people mostly don`t know about them. We are living in a time were the right information is the most valuable thig that a person can have, if it`s used in a proper way. But form my own expirnience I have to say, that often informations are not so easy to get, if you don`t knoiw the right sourcesses. If you are not surching for interesting information you wan`t know that they exist and never find out how valuable they can be! The acess to information about NGO`s was very difficult to me, befor I started using internet. I`m sure that there are peolpe, who don`t have or don`t know to use a computer and so they also can not use the internet. Because of that it is also very important that the goverment, NGO`s or student organisations develop programms, wich will be a opportunity for people in poor countries to find out about the initiatives, that are existing in the private sector.

yes, there should be an ebay of NGOs!

Chris Macrae, 19-Feb-04 @ 19:16PM

from Colombia

AAM: In this text I m going to talk about the following topic:

What are the key barriers to the social inclusion and empowerment of
youth?

I live in a difficult social environment such as Colombia is. then my conclusions are influenced by my countrie's conditions. However I think, my reality is not so different that others Developing countries are.

The first key barrier is the less Hope and confidence the adults have to youth. The major people and the governants or the managers of enterprices don't trust in us because they thik we are without experience to work for the development or social progress. We have to earn our space in the social structure as active people who can change the negative things of world in positive tools for human development with sustainability.

The second key barrier is access to education . For youth in developing countries is so difficult to study by the costs of it or because the conditions of life do not allow the youth to dedicate time for education, because the majority has to work for surviving of their families. Otherwise

In addition to the previous barrier we have other more complex and burden, it is that the youth has many difficults for having employment opportunities or creation of enterprices facilities. This is the very very important matter of action we have, because it gives to people the real possibility to fit themselves in the social structure with a important rol as a citizen. The youth people who have the opportunity to work, generate enterprices, they have the opportunity to study and to work in social construction with other social actors. Then we need the developing of our capabilites to achieve our goals as a grat sector of society, and we need the cooperation of governments and private institution for having real opportunities to change the bad conditions of life which maintain the poverty as a very difficult problem to solve.

Chris Macrae, 19-Feb-04 @ 19:11PM

from seconded in Manilla

NL: Adesiji hoped to form an NGO in developing nations to teach youth, and I say: why not? I am currently interning with the Manila UN Volunteers country office and their current strategy is South-to-South cooperation. Before, there were many Northern volunteers that would come down to volunteer in developing countries, but then UNV recognized the capabilities and opportunities available within the developing nations. There are passionate and educated people in the metropolitan areas that can help teach youth in the provinces. There are technicians and experts here that can help train people in nearby countries. For instance, there is currently only 3 International UN Volunteers here in the Philippines (they are serving as members of UNDP staff) while there are 28 Filipino UNV's serving within the country (26 of them in the southern Mindanao region), and 132 Filipinos serving across the world from Trinidad and Tobago, Albania and Georgia, numerous African countries and across Asia/Pacific. This is not only more cost-efficient for travel expenses, etc. but it is more culturally appropirate and stabilizing/capacity-building than the previous model.

We seem to be a group of passionate and educated youth, why can't we form an NGO to teach basic education and civics to inspire the youth and begin training them for leadership ASAP? UN Volunteers must have college degrees, about 5 yrs. relevant work experience and there's a minimum age requirement of 21/25 depending on your post. They receive a living allowance to cover basic needs. Our NGO could form its own regulations to cater to youth volunteers...

Chris Macrae, 18-Feb-04 @ 16:32PM

what's media's role? what's brand's role? what's knowledge's role?

It seems to me that media is a commons of the people , and particularly in rich countries it's not serving understanding of digital divides on what youth wants

at one level , how often do we see any of the outstanding views in this virtual debate presented in the mass media? is this because its the same most powerful people who haven't done much to help the poorest that dictate what the media covers? or what is the reason?

at another level, I am appalled at what many global brands do even though 30 years I started a career in marketing research, foolishy thinking it was about trying to serve people's greatest wants

there are some global brands out there that spend a billion dollars a year just advertising images! why don't they adopt a real cause as well as an image? for example if Coca-Cola got all the companies that deal in water to collaborate in start improving fresh water for the billion without it (something that many of Coca-Cola's own people must be expert in as a company that knows about liquids everywhere in the world), wouldnt world youth like Coca-Cola better than if it only spends a billion a year on image-making?

(incidentally, we've absolutely got to get competive companies collaborating over the biggest humanitarian issues because they all seem too big to me for any one organisation to solve on its own be it corporate, government, or youth network- we are desperately weak on colaborative models of organising because so much business school expertise has been put into competion so little into collaborating even though the internet's greatest innovations are surely all about collaboration potentials)

the largest brands have become the most expensive communicatiosn exercises of our time ; mediators between societies, but are they communicating the real things humans want to progress in the world?

we're having a debate on this all this month http://groupjazz.com/chautauqua/ (free but one minute registration). If you do turn up, dont be put off by any expert jargon; just tell us waht you think media or brands could do better, it would give the communications professions some much needed youthful tonic
, and real human share of voice

sincerely
chris macrae
valuetue.com transparency communities

Chris Macrae, 18-Feb-04 @ 03:41AM

From Peru

RV: The High Level Panel of the Youth Employment Network of the UN are excellent. These recommendations are called the '4 E´s': Employability, Equal opportunities, Entrepreneurship and Employment creation.
Can young people include their VOICE acting as the proponents? The answer is YES¡ With the support of YABT we aprroach different institutions and organizations. Now I identified Universidad de San Martin de Porres and the Ministry of Education to elaborate a national plan. The idea is to empower young people through a training of trainers in entrepreneurial and business capacities (learning by doing model). That is one of the components of the REDEFINITION of the new leaders: BUILD strong ALLIANCES according to ethical by principles. The credibility of youth is in direct relation with the quality of their proposals. IT IS TIME TO PROPOSE SOLUTIONS. The leadership of youth must consider STRONG ANTI CORRUPTION PRINCIPLES, a strong COMMITMENT with their countries and vocation of service.

In this way, in 2003 we founded the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Lima (AJEL) with the objective of participating in the public and private discussions. The missions of AJEL are to increase the competitiveness of our members and to have impacts in our society. The voice of young people are guaranteed with us. This is one the other half in the new concept of "leadership": think globally and act locally with sinergies, feeling the benefits of the network.

As a sample here you have some of the projects we are working in Peru:

* Member of the Multisectorial Committee for the Development of Information Society - Public Policies in TICs and its applications;
* Strategic alliance with the Universidad de San Martin de Porres´incubator;
* Proposal for the creation of a Council of Young Entrepreneurs and Empoyment (Ministry of Labor and Employment Creation);
* Participation of Peru (leadership the Ministry of Education and Universidad de San Martín de Porres) in a regional project in Latin America for the designing of a curriculum in entrepreneurial capacities in cooperation with Universidad Rafael Landivar (Guatemala), Jovenes Empresarios (Ecuador), Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) of the World Bank;
* The organization of the first session of the Business Labs Project; and
* Proposal "Day of Volunteerism in Villa El Salvador" in the context of the Annual Meeting of Governors of the Inter American Development Bank with the co-leadership of the "Brigada de Voluntarios Bolivarianos del Peru".

The transparency and accountability of young entrepreneurs are VITAL for our organization. AJEL is growing under democratic principles and corporate values.

Chris Macrae, 17-Feb-04 @ 18:16PM

from Philippines

JS: I am working on HIV/AIDS, adolescent reproductive health issues in the Philippines. And I would like to express my gratitude to be part of this forum. I have followed up the discourse of the forum and I appreciate the different perspectives and from what context each and everyone is coming from.

I would like to piggback what Gbenga Mabawonku that poverty issue can be addressed if appropriate systems/structures for distribution will be in place. And as such a great deal of leadership is needed for this not only coming from the top level but the concept of leadership with all of its constituents. I have always believed in the principle that each and every individual is a leader of its own. To effect change, this has to come from within...ourselves and not pass the burden to whoever is leading the country.

Agree a top down and bottoms up approach will still the best option in resolving national issues and concerns and this heavily relies on how communication systems among key stakeholders have been effectively and efficiently installed.

True leaders depends on what personal VALUES the leader has. True values of leadership, that which is inherent and often times are not emphasized ( honesty, accountability, empowerment, integrity, commitment etc...) may for others values may mean different and I respect their opinion as well. Thus the follow up question, ARe we assure that leaders with good values...lead to good governance? Well that is another point that people may want to discuss further...

I agree to the statement of Gbenga
"good qualitative education and democratic values are necessary conditions for good leadership practice. However, in an attempt to promote education and democratic values, there has been a general neglect of the effects of cultural beliefs and world views as well as social values and public knowledge." Values are further complicated by social norms traditions practices and events that an individual has undergone...that is why "culture or norms" or the standards of a particular country has to be analyzed on these concerns.

For now, what I believe upon knowing the environment where we live in..or the national or global situation ( poverty, malnutrition, war etc). Each and every one should reflect, what can I do on a personal that could effect change eventually with the rest...? It is no use of pointing out fingers or blame other poeple/group/institutions for the situation. Take action now...believe in yourself ...that there is a leader from within you..

Chris Macrae, 17-Feb-04 @ 18:10PM

Open leadership, and youthful networking of missions with great gravity

We dont yet know how to lead open networks yet, especially ones built up from your own greatest mission . Why not
evolve a model of finding 5 hi-trust people first who have the same mission but
different powers to bring to it. Below is a bit more background method http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=122627&d=1&
h=417&f=418&dateformat=%o%20%B%20%Y

What I would like to offer youth in this community is: if people will word any mission of 5 they are looking for 4 other hi trust people on, and what sorts of dream people would make up a cluster of 5 that could really give the mission lift off, and email me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk, then I will try
publishing it in various internet spaces and can act either as a pobox for you or
directly link you (your choice). I am doing something similar as a west Europe
network contact person for www.collapsingworld.org

TIPS on NETWORKING BIG PERSONAL MISSIONS
So far my best tip is think of email to the 12th grade as like your lifelong personal chance to find your 10 greatest mentorsok so you start with the parents you are born with, and the teachers you meet at school, but suppose they were openly searching how to link your greatest talents as well as you, and suppose networks have built open agencies where you can try out communal-practice
conversations anywhere and see how your skills, action learning rank; what
fits; where do you multiply something new as well as amplify the focus of the expertise somewhere, perhaps 7th grade you start conceptualising missions in life- can I think of a great project I could help change the world on; here I would try and find 5 high trust people who share the same mission; test out working in a team on something that's too big for one person to do but 5 different
people with the same mission can make progress on provided they wholly trust
each other for as long as that mission's goal prolongs; keep on experimenting like that knowing all the time your greatest human capitals are your time, your trust (deep with the mentor and expert circles you need for your missions) and transparency across borders including those that you self-organise, those that you co-organise, that another great power organises be it commercial or society. Know that because of an accident of history, many so-called organisations will try to steal those capitals from you, even while promising you the opposite.

If and when you do establish a personal network of 5, you can test it out by
open spacing (see eg www.practiceofpeace.com) to up to 5000 people at a time
if human mission has that much value multiplication in it for every person to
want to openly connect and participate

Debra Amidon, 16-Feb-04 @ 20:48PM

Discovering TEYO (Sweden)

Your insights are valuable as is your website and focus! I see that you are REALLY targeting youth in the form of children.

You will enjoy the quotes from the students of New Zealand. You might also enjoy the new child’s book for leadership executives, 'In Search of Innovation'- http://www.entovation.com/coming-soon.htm - soon to be released.

And in terms of modern leadership attributes, ethics would certainly rate foremost. In addition, you might appreciate an article the 7C's of Knowledge Leadership - applicable to any age - that appears within our Global Knowledge Primer - http://www.entovation.com/gkp/7longcs.htm.

Finally, if there were one gift I would offer to youth, it would be an understanding of the power of innovation. I wouldn't talk about 'change' per se; and I wouldn't use any re- words! Instead, I would suggest that the 'I' in ICT, for example, should stand for 'innovation', not information. I'm sure the challenges you face on a daily basis are far more a function of the behavior - and ultimately the social networks - as opposed to the technology itself. The good news is that these youngsters seem to 'get it' and fundamentally.

This bodes well for our future...

Chris Macrae, 16-Feb-04 @ 02:19AM

reinventing governance

AN: For a corporation to survive and be successful in the 21st century, it must satisfy not only the interests of shareholders by making profit, but also the interest of other parties that determine the success of the business,
including: consumers, employees, business partners, the local community, the government and society at large. Because all of these parties come from different sectors with different priorities, conflict is almost inevitable. The art of good corporate governance is overcoming these conflicts and satisfying as many stakeholders' demands as possible.

But since some of you argued that a company should satisfy first and foremost the interest of SHAREHOLDERS, we can look at various approaches to create opportunities for all STAKEHOLDERS to own shares in a company and to participate in the corporate governance process. Simply put these are ways to make "capitalists" of people with little capital to invest:
- Employee Stock Ownership Plan is an employee benefit plan that makes the employees of a company owners of stock in that company.
- Customer Stock Ownership Plan: Under this plan customers of a company become stockowners in that company.
- RESOP (Related Enterprise Share Ownership Plan): A concept, by which large companies offer shares to employees of long-term related companies, such as suppliers and distributors

Approaching this from a national perspective, how can we make residents of a region benefit from the mineral resources found on area they live in? Today, the common scheme is: a government awards concessions to investors interested in these resources, and then the government uses the royalty to improve the welfare of its citizens. But in reality often government officials abuse these funds. People from Nigeria and DR Congo (Zaire) can witness to this.

A way around this would be to promote General Share Ownership Plans (GSOP). Under this plan people from a local community, a region or a state become owners of the natural resources found on that territory. In fact, residents become owners of shares in a General Share Ownership Corporation that awards the extraction rights to traditional corporations. This way the people retain direct control over the royalty and they choose how to use it. They also have greater power to demand environmental stewardship from the extraction companies.

You can read more on these "new" approaches to ownership in the following
articles:
The Ownership Solution by Jeff Gates
(http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR23.6/gates.html) and Making Capitalism Better by Stephan Schmidheiny
(http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/1998/10/26/p19s1.htm)

What do you think would these new approaches to ownership improve the social and economic status of the poor? If so, how can we promote them? Can the international organizations, like the World Bank, play a role in this? Have you heard of any similar approaches in your own environments? We would love to hear them.

Chris Macrae, 13-Feb-04 @ 19:04PM

from icdcenter.org part 2

In the final analysis, each one of us has to take full and final RESPONSIBILITY for our words and actions. We stand on our own before all others, before society and the rest of the world. We need to strive and struggle, even against our contrary ("animal") spirits, to ensure that we act with fairness, transparency, and accountability towards all others.

In order for a PERSON/LEADER to secure fairness, transparency and accountability in all his/her actions, he/she needs to be brought up, educated and formed accordingly. GOOD ACTS have to be multiplied, GOOD HABITS developed, and VIRTUES constantly practiced. A LEADER therefore needs to acquire self-restraint and self-discipline, always taking into account the needs and rights (even the pleasure and convenience) of others. In the process, a LEADER strives all throughout his/her life to obtain more and deeper knowledge, acquire more skills, and maintain the proper and healthy orientation towards others and the world.

Chris Macrae, 13-Feb-04 @ 19:04PM

from icdcenter.org -part 1

http://www.icdcenter.org/ -S:
Remember, as a PERSON/LEADER he/she must act and inter-act with other persons. Among these other persons a PERSON deals with are other parties that have stakes and some interest in an individual's life. Chief amongst these other parties, especially at the young stages of one's life, are the parents and the other members of his/her immediate family, e.g. brothers and sisters as well as other very close relatives. But over time, other parties would normally take on increasing importance. These include, but would not be limited to, one's schoolmates and other friends, those others one deals with at work and in one's social as well as athletic circles, the local community, and the nation. For anyone with a more global view of life, there are also other networks within the global community that one has to inter-act with. This explains why YOUNG AGE is a very crucial stage in life for a person to start "socializing" with others and nurture all his/her leadership capacity.

It is incumbent upon an individual person that he/she deals with all the other parties FAIRLY, i.e. in accord with JUSTICE; respect their rights and provide them with what is due to them. Thus, each one of us as an individual is called upon to give to each of our many stakeholders what is their due. We are duty-bound to consider, protect and promote the legitimate claims of all our different stakeholders in an equitable manner. This is a very strong argument on why a Corporation has also responsibility towards its stakeholders (including employees and surrounding communities) in addition to first and foremost its shareholders. Because, who runs the Corporation? It is a COMMUNITY OF PERSONS who work for it.

We are then called upon to be TRANSPARENT about our actions in the different circumstances and facets of our life and the results of such actions. What we say about ourselves and our actions need to be accurate and true, timely and generally in line with the standards of INTEGRITY and TRUTHFULNESS.

We also hold ourselves ACCOUNTABLE for all our words and actions, often reaping praises and getting rewards, if they are good; but also taking blame and enduring punishment, if they are bad. Since we have duties towards others, each one of us should make it possible for others to determine whether we have fully lived up to our duties and to take appropriate action, by way of rewards or sanctions, as a consequence.

Chris Macrae, 13-Feb-04 @ 18:45PM

from sweden

en passant, wonderful to see you here Debra!

I have recently spend 3 months in Kosovo touring youth centres and educational establishments as well a lecturing there. I have had the pleasure of meeting youth there that have tremendous energy and motivation.
What I also see is a society that can suppress their views, an apathetic
public and a huge frustration that they cannot be herd or make change. Only a few unfortunately feel as though they are achieving their goals, whilst many understandably resign themselves to apathy. That's the bad news. The good news is that I see many of you coming together through modern communications technologies such as the Internet, sharing views and
building energetic groups that will support each other. This will in time
lead to progress towards an open society.

We have been asked to 'identify what they see as important qualities of leadership to tackle key development challenges'.

1. Democracy, law, education, media and economics are all tools within a society. One "quality" an Ethical leader has is a knowledge of how to use these for change and growth. Do you agree? Have I left anything out?

2. All leaders need followers. What exactly an ethical leader is or what exactly a following is depends on the culture and community that you within. However, there are many human qualities that extend across all
cultures. What are they? Passion and the ability to communicate? a motivator? someone who does what they say? Do you think that is a gift of birth or do you think it is something we can teach?

3. All leaders want to educate and be ducated - knowledge sharing. Knowledge is of course a tool, but each individual has to decide for themselves that they want to use it - you cannot teach your community if it
does not want to learn. Do you think an Ethical leader can promote knowledge sharing? How?

4. Patients vision and open minded ness - change takes time. Things will go wrong, but a good Ethical leader must have the vision to see this as part of progress. I see this in the Ethical leaders that I have admired. Do you? Maybe if would be interesting if you named an Ethical leader that you admire and list the qualities they have?

tom (Sweden)
www.teyo.org

Debra Amidon, 13-Feb-04 @ 17:58PM

Knowledge Millennium Generation

This sounds like an very exciting endeavor!

As part of The Innovation SuperHighway, we have provided a chapter to feature the aspirations of the youth of the world. A short summary can be found - http://www.entovation.com/whatsnew/millennium.htm.

The chapter in the book also features a variety of initiatives, such as the Global Knowledge Partnership, World Congress of the Young Entrepreneurs Association,Junior ALPBACH, The JADE Network, and the New Zealand Knowledge Wave.

As Charles Handy (Beyond Certainty) says,
“Seeds of so much of our future lie with our young people.
We should spend more time on them.
We should educate far more of them for far longer.
We should set them better examples
And, when they join our corporations,
We should give them every opportunity
To practice what they are learning,
even if they occasionally get it wrong.”

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 21:14PM

From India & UNVCO

AG: If I take the situation of India,the country is really boasts of its young citizens who are now attracting the attention of world by thier ubiqutous qualities,knowledge,motivation and dedication.I presume Indian youth are now preparing to transfer the societies they are living in.Despite all their progress in the field of knowledge,science,technology,arts,literature young people are sledom taking part in the decision making processes,be it in the local 'Panchayati' (local self government system in India) , state or national level.
Why is it important for the young people's becoming leader? It is important because the tenets of "leadership" as the moderator and other members of this discussion forum is trying to enumerate lies in the core of youth.
The basic difference of leadership quality of a youth and a non youth is that former is more fast in grasping knowledge. They have their inherent capacity of learning quickly than anything else.And in today's world learning is the essence of managing and good governance.
I would like to know what you are thinking about this.

NL:I would like to add to Atanu's message about the importance of knowledge, that there is a lot of knowledge available, but it is access to this knowledge that is the problem. There must be structures that support information-sharing between the local government units, civil society, academia, and the international area. What if a university has conducted an important study on a topic that could be used to increase the effectiveness of rural primary schools? And then if the primary schools do not hear about this breakthrough? Or if the school is informed, but the local government is not familiar with the report and dismisses the proposals of the school? Also, there are often simultaneous battles against the same foe because partnerships are not established. One suggestion is that youth can stand united with the rest of society to fight for good governance if there are Knowledge and Resource Centers established at schools, libraries, government offices, etc. that support free and open use of their paper libraries and electronic databases. In lieu of formal Knowledge and Resource Centers, mentorship is very important. The help of a passionate volunteer surpasses monetary value and knowledgeable volunteers available to support the capacity of youth is vital to our struggle. I would like to add the value of volunteerism to the topics of our group....

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 21:10PM

From Pakistan & Wharton

AK: Coming from a country like Pakistan where
poverty is widespread I have come to believe that poverty is a very multidimensional problem. True most of it can be attributed to corrupt leaders but at the same time can we blame these leaders if they have been working and raised in a corrupt system? Can we help poverty but then have illiterate citizens with poor health? To help fight poverty I
know we need to also focus on the issues of education and health and basic awareness to speed up the process. I know what I talk about is something very vast and can take many many years to be accomplished. But
I have seen people who are starting out and trying to do something about it.

We cannot eradicate poverty and let corrupt leadership, illiteracy and poor health prevail. To target poverty and its problems we need to examine the very system that has created this issue. Why is that some
countries abundant with resources are still doing poorly economically whereas small countries with little resources are doing so well? It has to be the system of government that has to be blamed. If we could
correct the system and the people involved in it (leaders) then we could cut the machine that is producing poor people. I know this sounds very idealistic (and beleive me I am a very idealistic person) but I am curious to know if anyone thinks that it is achievable? I would love feedback and comments.

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 21:07PM

Part 2 : Responsibility After Andersen

For now, there is a little bit of good news. If you live in a poor country, led by a transparent leader this is what our maps advise that all of you together should ask him/her to do:
-start engaging international organisations in a dialogue which evaluates whether that organisation cares long-term about the people of your nation; make it clear that you are going to roll out a program that gives global organisations 2 choices: if they don't have a measurable local purpose of Responsibility that all the people can verify they will be subject to an increasing penalty tax; if they do have a purpose of care, they should not only be transparently measurable to it but they should create a marketing plan that honours it and this will be sustainably good business for them as well as helping the nation to culturalise social responsibility (walking it not just talking it)

At the same time, this leader should know that the less caring global organisations will gang up on any such leadership program. To protect his government, at the same time as dialoguing with the big corporations, he should help local communities develop open spaces. This is a method, developed by a guy (Harrison Owen www.practiceofpeace.com) whose career was originally religious, where 5000 people can meet in circles and all participate in resolving a big communal challenge. Brazil's Porto Alegre took this idea somewhat further - it tries to facilitate 50000 people meetings to take charge of whether government and big organisations are keeping their main sustainability promises at the level of each organisation's greatest purpose. I don't know the Brazilian case intimately (so I'd love to hear any local feedback). I do know Harrison Owen enough to be able to ask him who is the most sincere facilitator in each of the 80+ countries that open space is already used; and if its never been used in your country we can ask him who is nearest both geographically and in cultural spirit.

sincerely, chris macrae
www.valuetrue.com Transparency Communities

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 21:06PM

Part 1: Did the World Learn from Andersen's Betrayal of the Golden Rule ?

The wisdom of the world's major religions - and so I believe the diversity if our human race - is united by the communal trust and value dynamics that flow around the golden rule "relationship reciprocity" - consistently do unto others what you would hope they would do unto you. The lesson of Andersen is: it not only broke that rule, but used measurement to cause many of the world's largest organisation to systemically forget that rule. Ultimately global organisations that are governed irresponsibly as measured by this rule are worthless but in between they can be root causes of human misery. Several mathematicians have spent most of the last 5 years mapping the minimum transparency measures that organisations need as a conflict resolution audit to ensure they never lose their biggest purpose and the human responsibilities it connects with in every local society. The journalist who is writing that book should finish it by end of March and if you email me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk I will send word files of all sections that look relevant to any of the topics in this wonderful discussion group once I have them.

For now, there is a little bit of good news. If you live in a poor country, led by a transparent leader this is what our maps advise that all of you together should ask him/her to do: -see part 2

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 16:43PM

Y from Philadelphia

I'm a current business and international studies student at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, USA.

let me first express my astonishment at the overwhelming number of emails accrued only during these first few days and the diversity in backgrounds of those who posted messages.

thank you Shamillah Wilson for the quote by Kofi Annan in your email. I agree, a largely untapped source of human brain power are females who unfortunately face seemingly unsurmountable challenges, culturally or otherwise. I'm actually researching ways to not only prevent the further "feminization of poverty" but to expand upon the steps already taken to alleviate poverty by means of empowering women.

Great successes have been achieved using microfinance and the Grameen model, but what are the real stats? Can someone please point to a source of hard data on how many women/families have since reached or crossed the poverty line?

A further issue seems to be the lack of a monitoring system: who's actually there to verify that the women who receive the loans are indeed the ones who are utilizing the funds (ie. their husband/closest male kin isn't exploiting the opportunity offered by microfinance banks)?

looking forward to everyone's input!

let's make this happen...

Chris Macrae, 12-Feb-04 @ 16:27PM

From Serbia & Montenegro

OB: Responsibility of every men is to do everything to make this world better - better for himself and for all other people, too. That should be ethical start point for all leaders and all man in the 21.century. Future leaders need to have a very high standars of ethical values. Corruptible, irresponsible and incapable leaders don`t lead us to
future!
I insist on individual responsibility of every man (responsibility to himself, to his society and to mankind), because it is psychological basis of every success (personal, social, professional, business,...). Entrepreneurial initiative, creativity, knowledgement, active relation
to problems, adjustment to changes,... are very important characteristics and they are maybe only way to solve problem such as
poverty in long-range terms.

Good governance is very important for abolishing the poverty. Democratic
and stable government and all institutions in country are key point in fight against poverty. I live in transition country and I can see practically how problem is when one country hasn`t good and stable
institutions, laws, democratic and free-market institutions.

Today technology allows more participative approach to decision making process than before. This should be used for consensus making in all aspects of life. Through internet wide range of people can express their opinion and make influence on making decisions that can impact their lives. That can be used by leaders on all levels when they are making decisions.

Chris Macrae, 11-Feb-04 @ 21:28PM

from kenya

HN: Poverty in third world countries, precisely my contry Kenya got its root from bad leadership and high levels of corruption and the I, me amd myself attitude. This attitude have left millions of people impoverished to the extent that they could hadly afford a good and comfortable meal per day. The worst hit members of the public are the youths whose future are being threatened.
With no role models of those in leadership, the youth are inheriting a culture which perpetuates poverty. Due to rampant poverty, there is high rate of joblessness and hence crime. I Therefore think the first focus is good governance because I believe it is crucial to the survival of any group of people. It is with such that the youth can get a way forward.

Chris Macrae, 11-Feb-04 @ 19:21PM

why you need to know-ahead youth's roles

KS: Nearly half of the world's population is under the age of 25 years. About 20% are adolescents between the age of 10 years and 19 years
(source: State of World Population 2003).

According to the UN Approximately one billion youth live in the world today. This means that approximately one person in five is between the age of 15 and 24 years, or 18% of the world’s population are "youth", and children (5-14 years) comprise of 19.8%.

These numbers highlight the large constituency of youth and importance that this constituency has in addressing the development agenda

Chris Macrae, 11-Feb-04 @ 04:07AM

from Bolivia

CV: Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries,
where 70% of our population is below the poverty line according with the 1999
Census. Currently, we have one of the highest Fiscal Deficits we have ever had.

Bolivia as other countries is being hit harder than ever by the negative impacts of following a wrong recipe that did not consider our particular country resources, capabilities, skills, and situation. The free market policies of globalization, was an excuse to sell most of inefficiently managed
Public Companies to foreign investors that were “strategically chosen by
corrupt politicians not on the basis of their fundamental economic worth, but on the
opportunity for bribes and kickbacks these investments represented.

Current situations urges for a Change at all levels, society, government, and
international organizations. Yes, we do need money to fix, to help, to
survive, to create productivity, jobs, to improve our population's lives. We need
billions, to pay our international debts, but much more important than money and
the things that we can do with money, we urge transparency, something that we
lack and transparency only will come if we change the concept, perceptions,
and actions about politicians and politics.

Politicians cannot be judge and party the same time, there is an urgent need
of an institution composed by civil society, because our nation is plagued by
endemic impunity for human rights violations, misuse of Public sources,
illegal ownership of public assets where members of the Congress, Legislators,
Ministers, Presidents rarely have faced legal consequences for their actions in “a
timely manner”. Cases of public authorities accused or proved of excessive use
of force and other human rights violations have been generally acquitted.
Therefore, it would not be a change or improvement that can be achieved without
addressing the issue of impunity.

I will mention Aristotle philosophy I have learned in my Change Management
Course: “Three major categories of philosophical ethics stretch back to ancient
Greece and continue into the present. One, focusing on the consequences of
actions, holds that pleasure or happiness is our basic goal; here the right
thing to do is to maximize pleasure or happiness. The second category emphasizes
reason, claiming that duty, rights, and justice is basic. The third category
considers what it means to lead a good life; along with the role, virtue plays
in that life. Aristotle understood human action in terms of ends and means and
claimed that the ultimate end of human action was happiness. Happiness was
understood as acting in accordance with reason and logic.”

Chris Macrae, 10-Feb-04 @ 20:07PM

From Iran- International Seminar on Microcredit for Youth

I have the pleasure to inform you that the NGOTC (a non-governmental organization that works on the empowerment of NGOs and CBSs in Iran with an emphasis on internship and field work) is going to hold a seminar and a workshop on Micro-Credit for Youth in Shiraz (Iran) from 6 to 9 March 2004. The most important issue about this seminar is that the government (the National Youth Organization) is totally involved in the project. The output of the event would be certain solutions for youth funds in Iran that can help to entrepreneurship in Iran among youth and also a series of micro finance projects. There is the hope that the NGOs can be involved in the whole process. I am now writing to all of you to see if there is anything we should cover in the conference and who can be the best international experts we can invite (especially from the World Bank).